Donny Doubles Down at River Cities Speedway

By Mike Spieker

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (August 18, 2017) – Donny Schatz had a night for the record books Friday at River Cities Speedway. The Fargo driver picked up wins in both the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series main event, as well as the NLRA late model feature. 

“What a fun night,” said Schatz in victory lane. “I couldn’t feel my car out very well in the sprint car feature. I think I might have been kind of played out after that late model race. Normally running that many laps isn’t too draining, but tonight it was.”

Schatz started fifth on the grid for the 40-lap World of Outlaws A-main. The driver of the Arctic Cat / Tony Stewart Racing No. 15 bided his time for the first 10 circuits before jumping into the second position on lap 11.

From there Schatz set his sights on Kasey Kahne Racing driver Brad Sweet and the two veteran drivers put on a great battle for the lead.

“I was pretty committed to the top and (Sweet) forced me to the bottom to go by him,” continued Schatz. “I used my tires up too much running down low, but I just had to go where he didn’t. I just had to stay patient and wait for lapped traffic. He couldn’t move around in lapped traffic and I was able to get up to the top and do what I needed to do.”

Schatz led the final 20 laps to record his seventh win at River Cities Speedway in the last 10 races.

On Saturday, Schatz will return to his home track at Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo, where he’ll look to continue his winning streak.

“The atmosphere of being around the hometown fans is something you can’t describe,” Schatz said. “It only happens once a year so it’s really exciting. I can’t wait for Saturday and I hope we can be as good as we were Friday.”

In the NLRA late model feature, Schatz used a mid-race restart to move by Dustin Strand for second and battle Ricky Weiss for the lead. With Weiss up top and Schatz on the low side, the two driver put on a great show as they race for the lead.

With nine to go, Schatz was able clear Weiss down the front straightaway to take the lead. Weiss tried to battle back, but Schatz was too strong in his Fargo Petro / Fastlane Car Wash No. 15.

Schatz pulled away from Weiss in the closing laps as he secured his second consecutive NLRA feature win. Weiss, Brad Seng, Strand, and Shane Edginton rounded out the top five.

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 15-Donny Schatz, [4]; 2. 7W-Ricky Weiss, [3]; 3. 12S-Brad Seng, [8]; 4. 71-Dustin Strand, [5]; 5. 4-Shane Edginton, [19]; 6. T1-Tom Corcoran, [15]; 7. 06-David Smith, [16]; 8. 16S-Jeff Hapala, [24]; 9. 11S-Troy Schill, [17]; 10. 00-Robert Bladow, [12]; 11. 1R-Travis Robertson, [7]; 12. 14-Brody Troftgruben, [13]; 13. 9-Steve Anderson, [22]; 14. 11-Shane Holden, [14]; 15. 11M-Paul Mueller, [18]; 16. 71S-Steffen Snare, [9]; 17. 30-Adam Fischer, [21]; 18. 1M-Nicholas Minske, [20]; 19. F9-Brandon Fuller, [1]; 20. 22-Steve Pankowski, [25]; 21. (DNF) 7P-Joey Pederson, [10]; 22. (DNF) 86-Matthew Smith, [23]; 23. (DNF) Z17-Zach Naastad, [2]; 24. (DNF) 10-Mike Balcaen, [11]; 25. (DNF) 4C-Ryan Corbett, [26]; 26. (DNF) 2-Bill Mooney, [6]


Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 7W-Ricky Weiss, [2]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz, [1]; 3. 1R-Travis Robertson, [3]; 4. 7P-Joey Pederson, [8]; 5. 14-Brody Troftgruben, [4]; 6. 06-David Smith, [7]; 7. 4-Shane Edginton, [9]; 8. 9-Steve Anderson, [5]; 9. (DNF) 22-Steve Pankowski, [6]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. F9-Brandon Fuller, [3]; 2. 2-Bill Mooney, [7]; 3. 71S-Steffen Snare, [4]; 4. 10-Mike Balcaen, [6]; 5. 11-Shane Holden, [2]; 6. 11S-Troy Schill, [5]; 7. 1M-Nicholas Minske, [8]; 8. 86-Matthew Smith, [1]; (DNS) 4C-Ryan Corbett,
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. Z17-Zach Naastad, [1]; 2. 71-Dustin Strand, [6]; 3. 12S-Brad Seng, [5]; 4. 00-Robert Bladow, [3]; 5. T1-Tom Corcoran, [8]; 6. 11M-Paul Mueller, [2]; 7. 30-Adam Fischer, [4]; 8. 16S-Jeff Hapala, [7]

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